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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27403468">The Agreste Mansion</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beautyinflight/pseuds/Beautyinflight'>Beautyinflight</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Dark Carpenter series [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Miraculous Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Future of miraculous, Gen, The Agreste mansion</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 21:21:55</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,854</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27403468</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beautyinflight/pseuds/Beautyinflight</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Adrien, the designated leader of the miraculous team and head of the house, is missing. His miraculous too. On the table in the foyer there is an envelope and the keys to the oh so exclusive elevator.</p><p>The heroes left behind to read it discover,<br/>Why the Agreste Mansion became the den, the base of operations for the miraculous team.<br/>A brief run down of the years after Hawkmoth’s arrest.<br/>And Adrien really sucks at writing letters.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Dark Carpenter series [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2001913</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The past.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>World building for the Dark Carpenter series, enjoy ;)</p>
    </blockquote><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Hey everyone, <br/>I’m sorry to leave you like this. I plan to come back but if I don’t there’s some things you need to know...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Adrien was 16 he had one hell of a year. He finally succeeded as Chat Noir, and defeated Hawkmoth, but then the villain turned out to be his father. So, he got to move in with his girlfriend! -but then she broke up with him just days into the arrangement! (Because, as it turned out, she was into their friend Marinette.) She was gay. Which was great! But she wasn’t into guys, at all, the whole time they’d been dating. All two years of it. A lie. Everything in his life was a lie.</p><p>Well, everything except <em>her</em>. Marinette. *<em>sigh</em>*</p><p>He’d finally realised his own feeling for her amidst the chaos of it all but it was too late. She’d started dating Luka a couple of months ago. Why was he so cursed! He asked his kwami if the black cat miraculous might be affecting his luck to which plagg laughed. <br/>“Before I got here, kid,  you were already living with a villainous, neglectful father, you had no friends other than the mayor’s bratty kid and hadn’t met Ladybug or been to space or..”</p><p>”Yeah, yeah I get the point. Its not the miraculous. I’m the one who’s cursed.”</p><p>”Hey that’s not what I-“ He’d been cut off by Kagami’s arrival.</p><p>The two years he spent with the Tsurugi’s taught him a lot. They believe in being able to do things by yourself and determinedly dragged <strike>me</strike> Adrien through a  different kind of routine. He learnt how to cook and clean and the value of his money. They gave him tutoring in business and when he turned 18 they told him about his shares in their company and the <em>Gabriel</em> partnership deal. When he turned 21 he was to inherit his father’s company in its entirety. Though the fashion brand’s sales plummeted after the Hawkmoth reveal it was still a vast network worth more money than he could wrap his head around. <br/><br/>Though she was strict, Adrien was grateful for all the Tsurugi’s did for him in those years. When he moved out for his final year of Lycée, he was (semi-)prepared to live on his own for the first time and had Ms Tsurugi to thank for that.<br/><br/>By the end of the school year he truly felt at home in his new apartment. His closest friends had their own keys and he was often invited over to join friends’ families for dinner. He accepted every now and then, especially those at the bakery, but it was hard tagging along to families when he didn’t have one of his own.</p><p>But he was never alone for long!<br/>Everyone was always at his place as it was the best hangout (no adult supervision.) He was constantly asked to throw parties, but after the first time <strike>I had to deep clean the carpet!</strike> he learnt it was best to just say no.</p><p>His last year at Lycée was amazing and it was mostly down to Marinette. They’d gotten closer after Luka broke up with her over the summer and they spent a lot of time together. He had a few classes with her and <strike>we</strike> they often studied together at the bakery.<br/><br/>The rest of his time was spent patrolling Paris with <strike>his</strike> Lady-bug as his alter ego Chat Noir. Even after Hawkmoth’s arrest she insisted their identities remain a secret until the missing miraculous were found. The Butterfly and the peacock had been stolen moments after they’d gotten them off Gabriel. They were yet to find the thief but every now and then an akuma or sentimonster would still appear. </p><p>The summer after their final exams Kagami left with her mother to expand her company and study abroad. Ladybug entrusted her with the dragon Miraculous, allowing her to take it with her. That’s when the good things started to go wrong again.</p><p>Violet bee. Luka. Even the inseparable Alya and Nino took a ‘break’. Marinette stopped speaking to him for a while (just as they were getting good.)</p><p>Adrien wasn’t respected in his father’s company being only 19 when he started making himself known. He changed the name to Agreste and other things too. He wondered if it was weird to offer Marinette a job out of nowhere but he decided against it since she was still not talking to him.<br/>The years moved on, it all happened so fast and a week before his 21st birthday Adrien received a letter from Nathalie, his father’s old personal assistant.</p><p>The letter was vague and apologetic and polite. Adrien hated it and had wanted to refuse the invitation to his old house, the Agreste Mansion, out of spite. However, she’d mentioned his mother...<br/>She’d died when he was 13. After his father was revealed to be Hawkmoth the media went wild, accusing him of murdering her and trying to ask Adrien questions about his childhood. The Tsurugi’s had protected him from a lot of it but they still got through. The paparazzi and the journalists all fighting for the exclusive. Thankfully that had slowed down since he no longer modelled or did much of anything too public.</p><p>The idea that Nathalie knew something about his mother’s sickness struck a nerve. Was it true? What did she know? Why now? Why the house? His curiosity was what brought him to the great gates of the Agreste mansion, it was cold and the leaves had fallen early this year only adding to the gothic <strike>vibe</strike> <strike>scene?</strike> feel of the place. It was so obvious seeing it again, <strike>how did I not notice</strike>  the butterfly window, the rooms no one knew how to enter.</p><p>Nathalie had aged more than her years. He hadn’t seen her since his father’s hearing, what, 6, 7 years ago? She had been suspected of being mayura but there wasn’t any evidence so she was let go. Her hair was speckled with grey and thick lines followed her frown and weighed down on her brow. It was the face of concern welded onto her face for the rest of her life. She attempted to make small talk, she was asking how he’d been.</p><p>”Like you care.” <strike>I still regret saying that.</strike></p><p>She didn’t try again, she only led him to the basement...</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The present.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I don’t know why I wrote this in third person, I think I was trying to sound modest while writing my own life story of sorts. I’m sure I’ll be back to answer your burning questions about it all soon, after all this letter is just a precaution. Just like the keys!</p><p>Because, you see, in the basement I found my mother.</p><p>She’s not held hostage and her body’s not strung up like a puppet! (I could hear you thinking it from the past little <em>princess. </em>Don’t try to deny it!) She was put into a coma by a damaged Miraculous and my father had her unconscious body preserved and locked away in a kind of life support bubble? You’ll understand when you see it.</p><p>You may argue that she’s already dead but she can still be saved and to me that means she’s alive. She’s my mom. It needs a lot of power and there are some maintenance things but I’ve made notes and left them all together in her garden. (Please keep it pretty she loves the flowers)</p><p>So that’s why I made this big old creepy Mansion from my past our base. I knew we needed a safe place and where better than here. Making this ground zero would be the surest way to keep her safe.</p><p>I know a lot of you will have heard the <em>legends, (</em>oh, I’m so old.) And yes my father was Paris’ original Hawkmoth and this was his house before we made it our own. But you don’t need to dwell on that, that’s the past.</p><p>There are plenty of other great features to remember, that were here before or that we added, and the size doesn’t hurt when we need to keep our distance. If anything goes wrong with the house, call Max Kante. Yes, that one. I know famous people, I’m a superhero get over it. He designed and built most of the tech in the house and understands the parts he didn’t. <br/><br/>Don’t focus on the ghost stories. Most of them aren’t true. I’d know, I grew up here. <br/><br/><br/></p><p>While I’m gone,</p><p><span class="u">STICK TO THE RULES! </span><br/><br/>Do not transform near, or directly outside the house. (Always be sure to check you’re alone, in a secure place and you aren’t on camera.)</p><p>No detransforming outside the house when possible. ( Take <strong>separate</strong> routes back and use the secret entrances while in your suits.)</p><p>No revealing of identities to <span class="u">anyone</span>, with exception to people in the house when <em>absolutely necessary.</em> </p><p>Do not enter the house through the front door or window while transformed.</p><p>and remember to return to the place you were last a civilian in when possible.</p><p> </p><p>You all know how to find the legacies and how to get help if you need it. I won’t be gone long. If all goes to plan I’ll be back by breakfast.</p><p>Standing order of authority is bug then bee. No complaints. Sheriff and deputy should be enough for a short while. You’ll figure it out. Oh and No fighting! My word is final. And yeah, it is, because I said so.</p><p> </p><p>The last page is bee’s eyes only! Got that! There will be stern words and no celebratory waffles for anyone who peaks! </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. The final page.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>I mean it Monkeybug! Hand it over to bee, ok? I’ll be back soon.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Hey bee,  <br/>
I’m sorry. I don’t know if this’ll work out but I’m desperate. The red’s faded and the cracks are getting worse, I don’t even know if we can fix it or if... but we will. We have to. You understand.</p><p>Its not your fault. You had to do it and I have to do this too. If it goes well we can do everything as planned. Marinette first, then my mom. Don’t worry I won’t be greedy. Marinette’s always my number one priority.</p><p>I know you love her too. Don’t think I never noticed. I would’ve brought you with me if I thought it would do any good.</p><p>But I need you in the den, <em>they</em> need you.</p><p>I’ve had the money side of things and the company contingencies sorted for a while now in the event of my, um yeah. So you don’t have to worry about anything. I’ve got it all sorted. You can thank Kagami for that.</p><p>Keep an eye on the little princess for me. She’s too observant for her own good. She knows about Mari. And me not being there will hit her hard so you take care of her ok.</p><p>So you see, I didn’t mean to lie to you. I was just trying to protect her. If all goes well today I’ll have both the miraculous we need and I’ll come clean in person and burn this letter and we can talk it out. <strike>If not.</strike>. <strike>if I don’t</strike>.. when you find this, just promise me you’ll keep her safe. Keep them <em>all</em> safe. <br/>
<br/>
</p><p>p.s. I forgive you. </p><p> </p><p>-A.A</p>
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